Amherst College - FoxTrothttps://www.amherst.edu/taxonomy/term/15468
enCartoonist Behind Thor Donates Time and Talent to Alma Materhttps://www.amherst.edu/news/archives/campusbuzz/node/328773
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<div class="fine-print" style="text-align:center;" align="center">Simonson’s illustration for the Annual Fund</div>
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</tr></tbody></table><p><span class="drop-cap2">F</span>or almost 40 years, Walter “Walt” Simonson ’68 has been one of the artists and writers behind some of the most recognizable comic book heroes, from the <em>Avengers</em> and the <em>Fantastic Four</em> to <em>Wonder Woman</em> and <em>Thor</em>. This spring, Simonson generously donated his time and talent to his alma mater by creating an Amherst-themed superhero for the <a href="/give">June Annual Fund appeal</a>. At Amherst, Simonson studied geology, and his interest in the sciences is still evident in his signature, which resembles a distorted brontosaurus.<!--break--></p>
<p align="left">Simonson’s work on <em>Thor</em> is legendary in the comic world, and with the May release of the film version, the accomplished artist is finally receiving a wider audience. During the mid-1980s, Simonson took nearly complete control of the storyline as both writer and artist. Although he did not create the title character, his time on the story saw a revival of <em>Thor</em>’s popularity as he introduced major new characters and plot twists. Earlier this year, Marvel published a complete hardcover collection of Simonson’s editions of <em>Thor</em> with newly colored artwork by Steve Oliff, an award-winning colorist in the comic book world who also generously donated his time and talent to Amherst in partnership with Simonson.</p>
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<p>“Working on <em>Thor</em> was one of the highlights of my career and I am happy the character found a new audience in the recent film,” said Simonson. “In comics, there’s a creative freedom and an independence rarely found in other media. And I love the complexities of the job. You get to draw pictures in which you mold compositions, design characters, create landscapes, build cities, solve perspectives, forge weaponry, meld lettering and type with art, and fuse it all together into a story by playing with time and space. I haven’t found that sort of challenge anywhere else.”</p>
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<p align="left">Simonson has received multiple Shazam Awards, including recognitions for Best New Talent and Best Individual Short Story, and in 2010 he received the Hero Initiative Lifetime Achievement Award. </p>
<p align="left">Simonson isn’t the only famous artist to contribute artwork to Amherst’s Annual Fund. <a href="/media/view/117285/original/BillAmendJuneMailing.pdf"><em>FoxTrot </em>artist Bill Amend ’84 lent Quincy, the strip’s iconic iguana, and Peter Fox’s Amherst cap to the 2009 fund drive</a>. </p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-1 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/15465">Bill Amend</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/15468">FoxTrot</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/15628">Amherst College Annual Fund</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/15629">Walter Simonson</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/15630">Thor</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/1358">arts</a></div></div></div><ul class="links inline"><li class="sharethis first last"><a href="/sharethis-ajax/328773" class="mm-sharethis">Share</a></li>
</ul>Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:16:46 +0000samasinter328773 at https://www.amherst.eduhttps://www.amherst.edu/news/archives/campusbuzz/node/328773#commentsHow to Write a Comic Striphttps://www.amherst.edu/amherst-story/magazine/issues/2011spring/amherstcreates/cartoonists/node/315611
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><table class="table-align-right-gradient" border="0" cellpadding="10" width="200"><tbody><tr><td><div class="mediainline"><span class="inline"><img class="image original" src="/media/view/315448/original/145110450.jpg" border="0" alt="145110450" title="145110450" width="300" height="255"></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><p><b>[Comics]</b> <i>Get Fuzzy</i> cartoonist Darby Conley ’94 interviewed <i>FoxTrot </i>cartoonist Bill Amend ’84—whose anthology <i>The Best of FoxTrot</i> came out in November—for the Amherst Reads online book club. Here is a condensed version of that interview.<br><br><b>DC: You did editorial strips for <i>The Student</i> when you were at Amherst.</b><br> BA: I cut my teeth on drawing cartoons under deadline pressure. In those days, [<i>The Student</i>] came out twice a week. I would go in after I finished doing my homework, show up at maybe 9 p.m. and start brainstorming. I’d get my strip done at 2, 3 in the morning. Because I was already awake, I’d end up pulling an all-nighter helping finish the layout and paste-up of the paper itself. <br><br><b>DC: When I was starting college, the greatest thing about <i>The Student</i> was that it had two full pages of all six dailies for that week of you[r strip], <i>Calvin and Hobbes</i> and—was it?—<i>The Far Side</i>. </b><br> BA: For a few years I had The Student as a client paper. It was really cool to feel like I was suc­cessful enough that my own college paper would want to run me. [My freshman year, The Student] started using me to do logos for the arts page. I turned in these weird cartoons. Sophomore year, they let me be a recurring editorial cartoonist. I did cartoons about campus issues—some quasi-political jokes that weren’t particularly funny, but I was trying.<br><br><b>DC: When you first submitted a strip for syndication, was it a strip or a panel? </b><br> BA: It was a strip. My first idea for a strip was about a guy who goes off to a jungle and studies animals, and the animals all talk. It was a lot like <i>Bloom County</i>—Michael Jackson jokes and things like that. And as is typically the case, I got Xeroxed rejection letters from all the syndicates. I tried again, because the last rejection letter had a little encouragement at the bottom: Your art’s not so bad, and your writing’s not so bad—we just don’t like the idea. <br><br><b> DC: When I first got it in my head that I would be a syndicated cartoonist, I sent you some samples. I only understand now how remarkable your response was: it was literally two pages via snail mail. You sent an amazing point-by-point recommendation. I do remember a phrase you wrote: “Newspaper syndicates need another talking-animal strip like they need a hole in the head.”</b><br> BA: I guess I was wrong. <br><br><b>DC: Tell me about your writing process. [Writing a comic strip] actually is hard writing: the deadlines, the weird abstractions. </b><br> BA: Hard? What are you talking about?<br><br><b>DC: Oh, that’s right. You use the <i>Family Circus </i>comic generator online. The Internet has saved you.</b><br> BA: I generally work with a legal pad and a ballpoint pen and just doodle out words and thumbnail sketches. I actually have a <i>Get Fuzzy</i> calendar up in my office right now. I’m stealing my ideas from you. <br><br><b>DC: Are you ever going to work on any other writing projects?</b><br> BA: I’m trying. I have a friend in the children’s book industry who has been kindly encouraging me to write something that she can then reject. I have an idea I really like. It’s just a matter of being happy enough with what I’m producing that I want to share it with people. Tell me what you’re working on, come on!<br><br><b>DC: I didn’t sleep last night, just getting the daily strips in. I screwed myself early on—you might have even told me this in the letter—[by choosing] a really detailed drawing style. Oh, I’m paying for that now. </b></p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-1 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/691">amend</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/9712">Bill Amend &#039;84</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/15463">Darby Conley</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/15464">Conley</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/15465">Bill Amend</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/15466">comic strips</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/15467">Get Fuzzy</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/15468">FoxTrot</a></div></div></div><ul class="links inline"><li class="sharethis first last"><a href="/sharethis-ajax/315611" class="mm-sharethis">Share</a></li>
</ul>Fri, 13 May 2011 13:32:49 +0000kdduke315611 at https://www.amherst.eduhttps://www.amherst.edu/amherst-story/magazine/issues/2011spring/amherstcreates/cartoonists/node/315611#comments